Petshark: Talking Stick

Monday, the Sharks confirmed that defenseman Matt Irwin and center Bracken Kearns had signed contracts for the upcoming season. They also announced that goalie Al Stalock has accepted their offer, and that they have signed defenseman Danny Groulx, who returns to North America after two seasons in the KHL. All those contracts are for one-year.

This evening, Lavoie tweeted out another Sharks signing, that of John McCarthy. I’m on record as being a fan of McCarthy, so I was very grateful to Mr. Lavoie for delivering this news. Since he was right about Kearns, I’ll believe him about this one too:

McCarthy (center) finished last season as Worcester’s leading scorer and he’s played 51 NHL games with the Sharks over the last three seasons. He played ten games with San Jose last season. I hope we’ll see him out here again but either way it’s good to have him still in the organization. Thank you, Mr. Wilson. It will be very upsetting if this information turns out to be not true.

Centerman Jon Matsumoto of the Florida Panthers and San Antonio Rampage tweeted that he is also joining the Sharks:

@Matsy11: I am thoroughly excited to be joining the @SanJoseSharks organization. I am excited for a fantastic 2012-2013 year!

While awaiting confirmation on that signing, I discovered that Matsumoto was with the Philadelphia Phantoms in 2008. They won the longest playoff game in AHL history, ending 2:58 into the fifth overtime period. I won’t hold it against Matsumoto that his team beat one of my favorite goalies, since they also helped Leighton earn the standing record for most saves in a single professional game (98). Matsumoto contributed three of those shots, according to the game stats.

I’m still waiting for confirmation that he will be a Shark, no offense intended to Mr. Matsumoto. Last season, he played 35 AHL games with the San Antonio Rampage, 41 with the Charlotte Checkers and one NHL game with the Florida Panthers. The previous season, he played 13 NHL games with the Carolina Hurricanes.

Welcome new Sharks!

The odds are very good that these signings are primarily about the Worcester Sharks, not the San Jose team. Of course anything can happen, but even if you don’t follow the Worcester team much, this is news worth celebrating. If your AHL team repeatedly fails to make the playoffs, it is hard to claim that you are taking your development program seriously. This is where most of the prospects learn the professional game and I think it’s important for them to learn about winning. You can learn a lot from losing too, but moderation is key. Unrelenting despair is not conducive to progress.

So far, it looks like Wilson is determined to send reinforcements to Worcester.

About Petshark: Talking Stick

Native of Northern California. Hockey fan since 1998... sort of... there's a hiatus in there that I still can't explain.

I want to know about anything and everything related to the sport and the spectacle. I watch, I react, I write it down.

My interest in the Sharks was initially a matter of geographic convenience and regional loyalty because that seemed to be how it worked. I had no prior interest (at all-- AT ALL) in professional sports of any kind. When I met hockey, it might have set off a chain reaction of general sports fandom. It hasn't, I don't think it will. At all.

Since then, that interest developed into full blown (mostly sort of usually almost completely) exclusive loyalty to the Sharks.

I started blogging a couple years ago on wordpress. I still occasionally put things there that I don't think fit here because they are not about the Sharks. Wherever my words wander, here on Kuklas Korner, they will (usually) hang on to a teal thread.

I can be found in cyberspace on Twitter @petshark47, or emailed at talkingstick@petshark.net